Making Felt Balls and Pincushions ...

This is a good first project for children (eight years or older) or anyone that hasn't made any felted object before.

How to make felt balls, egg shapes, or pin cushions ...

You will need washed and carded wool batts or roving, some dyed wools, an old nylon stocking, your washing machine (or a pair of hands) and hot soapy water.

To make a good sized ball or pincushion, you would start by taking about 1 ounce of the roving (split into 4 long strips lengthwise) and begin by wrapping one of the thinner strips as you would wind a ball of yarn or string. Use up all 4 of these thin long strips and keep winding the ball of roving until it is at least 1/3 larger than you want the finished ball or pin cushion to be.

Roving and dyed wools

Winding the roving strip into a ball

Continue winding the roving onto a ball.

Then take thinner "whispy" pieces of the dyed wool and cover the roving ball. The wool sort of holds together if you wrap the dyed pieces so they overlap a bit and are pressed together.